Related top topics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Culture of the Faroe Islands has its roots in
the Nordic culture. The Faroe Islands were long isolated from the
main cultural phases and movements that swept across parts of Europe. This means that they have
maintained a great part of their traditional culture. The language
spoken is Faroese. It is one of three insularScandinavian languages descended from the
Old Norse language spoken in Scandinavia in the Viking Age, the others
being Icelandic and the extinct Norn, which is
thought to have been mutually intelligible with Faroese. Until the
15th century, Faroese had a similar orthography to Icelandic and Norwegian, but after the Reformation 1538, the ruling
Danes outlawed its use in schools, churches and official documents.
This maintained a rich spoken tradition, but for 300 years the
language was not written down. This means that all poems and
stories were handed down orally. These works were split into the
following divisions: sagnir (historical), ævintyr
(stories) and kvæði (ballads), often set to music and the
mediaeval chain dance). These were eventually written down in the
19th century.

Contents

Music and
Chain Dance

Traditional Faroese music is primarily vocal, and is not
accompanied by musical
instruments. Only in Tórshavn instruments like Fiddles were present in the older
days. When trade grew in the 20th century the Faroese started to
use imported musical instruments. Much of the imported music and
instruments remained popular only in the capital and largest city,
Tórshavn. Rural
peoples remained true to traditions of the chain dance and ballads.
The chain dance is a dance, which only survived in the Faroe
Islands, while in other European countries it was banned by the
church, due to its pagan origin. The dance is danced traditionally
in a circle, but when a lot of people take part in the dance they
usually let it swing around in various wobbles within the
circle.

The following description is by V. U.
Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi, 1891: The storyline of the
ballad is attended by everybody with great interest, and if
something especially pleasant or moving occurs, you can see it in
the look and movement of the dancers – when the rage of the battle
is described, the hands are clenched together, and when victory is
in hand, they make cheering movements.

Such is the importance of the dance as a cultural element that
the Faroese refer to it as Faroese dance. However, it shall be
stated that the dance hasn’t the same popularity it once had. This
especially applies to younger generations.

Literature
and Art

Faroese literature in the traditional sense of the word has only
really developed in the past 100-200 years. This is mainly because
the Faroese language was not written down in a standardised format
until 1890 (in 1854 Venceslaus Ulricus
Hammershaimb published a written standard for Modern Faroese
that exists to this day. He produced orthography consistent with a
continuous written tradition extending back to Old Norse). The Danish language was also encouraged at
the expense of Faroese. Nevertheless, the Faroes have produced
several authors and poets. The most famous of these authors are Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen (known
for his sole novel Barbara) and William
Heinesen. Both authors wrote in Danish. Other famous authors
from the Faroes include Heðin Brú (The Old Man and His Sons)
and Jóanes
Nielsen. Poets include the brothers Janus and Hans Andreas Djurhuus, and Rói Patursson.
Both Heinesen and Patursson have been awarded The Nordic Council's Literature Prize.

Handcrafts

Lace knitting
is a traditional handcraft of peoples of the Faroe islands. The most distinguishing
characteristic of Faroese lace shawls is the center back gusset shaping. Each shawl consists of two
triangular side panels, a trapezoid-shaped back gusset, an edge
treatment, and usually shoulder shaping.

Sports

Football is the most popular sport on the Faroe Islands, closely
followed by handball, volleyball and rowing. 60% of those who play sport on
the islands play football. A 1-0 victory over Austria on 12 September 1990 still ranks as the
greatest day in the history of football on the islands, but the
national team has also recorded a number of impressive results
against higher-ranked teams, primarily on home soil.

As of 1 July 2008, the Faroe Islands' international record (in
UEFA European Championships qualifiers) was played 48, won 3, drawn
5, lost 40.[1]

Five different institutions run football schools, attended by
1,000 children each year. Todi Jónsson is probably the most famous
player from the Faroe Islands of all times. He used to play for FC
Copenhagen in Denmark
and was the top scorer in the 2002/2003 season.

The Faroe Islands compete in the biannual Island Games,
which have been hosted by the islands in 1989.